✓ 2. | FIX HER ➸ KLAUS MIKAELSON

forty-two ; there goes the ticking bomb

Stefan didn't listen to his demand, staying in his place. Adrian — one of the hybrids — came in and instantly Melody made a distance between herself and Klaus, spinning on her heel as she drifted over to the window.

"You said it was urgent," Adrian spoke, his eyes going to the only female in the room before he caught the distasteful twitch on his former alpha male's lips which led him to believe his presence had caused Melody to move away.

However, the Original kept his temper in check, flicking a hand towards his painting as he didn't bother looking at him anymore, instead staring at the woman who was dragging one smooth finger across the window, causing the sun to dim, hidden by clouds that suddenly appeared. "Yes, take this to the Mystic Grill immediately."

Now it was Adrian's turn to look unpleased, withdrawing from snarling and lunging at him at being ordered around, despite the fact that he was no longer sired. But he had to keep the act up, unfortunately. He silently prayed he was doing a good job. "You want me to be a delivery guy?"

The air shifted as Melody turned her head to look at him, her expression blank so he could not tell what was going on in her head. What he did not know was that the female was now suspicious, watching him warily. Something was off with the hybrids and the more she found herself observing her surroundings and becoming more paranoid due to her growing darkness, the more she became convinced that the supposed soldiers were no longer loyal.

She took two measured steps towards Adrian, making him stiffen though he had tried to hide his tenseness and failed. Her eyes stayed trained on his face while the other two in the room watched her, ready to intervene if she did anything. "Drop the attitude before I cut off both your hands and drop them in a river." He gulped. "You are going to take the painting to the Mystic Grill now." Then she took a steady breath to calm herself. "Be careful though, it is still wet we don't need it smudging."

Klaus and Stefan exhaled in relief, exchanging a glance. Adrian grimaced but obeyed, moving past her and took the painting carefully as if it were glass, carrying it out of the room. Her eyes followed him. Not longingly, but empty, like she knew something. The vampire decided to move onto the reason he came here before Melody chose to consider him collateral damage. "Elena is sired to Damon. Which means I need to find the cure now more than ever and yet here you are making postmodern snowflakes."

Melody sat on the couch, crossing her legs as she sat up straight, looking proper which was unlike her and yet her old habits of being a princess in the Enchanted Forest could never be removed. Whenever she did something royals do such as sitting poised, it meant she was thinking. And if she were to be at a table at that moment, she would have been tapping her nails against the surface. What she didn't understand is why Stefan still cared. If he didn't, why was he wasting his time here?

"We've delivered all we can," she pointed out to Stefan, nose scrunching up slightly. "We retrieved the Hunter's sword from Italy. But in order to decipher the map, the Hunter's mark needs to be completed. You and Caroline are the ones who are supposed to deliver the Hunter and his mark."

He kept calm, steady when speaking with her. He didn't miss the annoyance that flashed in her eyes when she noticed how he was acting around her: like she was a ticking bomb. "Well, Jeremy is the hunter, and he has to keep killing vampires to complete his mark, but we can't quite figure out how to keep him from killing us."

Klaus came back into the conversation, standing by the couch next to the fairytale woman. "Sounds like quite the chore. Which is why I feel perfectly justified doing a little charity work with Melody complimenting the job I have done." To make his point that the male's presence was not adored, he pressed a gentle hand on Melody's shoulder, rubbing the back of her neck with his thumb.